Vacuum bagging, or vacuum bag laminating as it is also known, is a technique widely used in the aircraft and aerospace industries to fabricate high strength-to-weight ratio fiber-reinforced composite components. Indeed, efforts are being made in aircraft construction to employ components on an increasing scale that are comprised either completely or at least partly of fiber-reinforced composite components, e.g. carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer/plastic (CFRP), as structural or load-bearing elements. Vacuum bagging involves arranging and sealing a vacuum bagging film or membrane over a component, which may be positioned on a molding tool. The component may, for example, be in the form of a wet laid-up laminate, or may comprise a core and/or reinforcing fibers into which a liquid polymer or resin is infused, for example in a process of resin transfer molding.
One area in which vacuum bagging techniques have been subject to difficulties in achieving reliable production results is in the area of very extensive or long component manufacture. In the aircraft and aerospace industries, for example, wing components which may include structural sections of more than 10 meters in length, and sometimes over 30 meters in length, have proven very challenging.